<p>Sydney, Oct 12 2004 -- Virtual Machine Laboratories today announced the beta release of interactive Pluggable Internet Security Assistant (iPisa) - a new generation Internet security add-on capitalizing on the power of mature virtual machine technologies.</p><p>iPisa brings the benefits of the disposable nappy / syringe philosophy to today's Internet security tools marketplace. Why rely on "unreliable" best-effort-only cleaning especially when fresh disposables are available?</p><p>Most of today's popular Internet security tools focus on detection and cleaning. Unlike grilles and alarm systems used to protect homes, antivirus and other anti-xxx protections are not "set-and-forget" solutions. In fact, without up-to-the-minute patching, these solutions are quite useless against new threats. It's hardly surprising considering that they are all basically reactive in nature. Nearly all major virus and worm outbreaks can be attributed in some way to this fatal characteristic of the mainstream anti-xxx protection and patching scheme.</p><p>Unlike the anti-xxx security tools, iPisa makes no attempts to perfect the impossible tasks of keeping an Internet connected personal computer free from corruptions and malwares such as virus, adware, spyware and trojan.</p><p>With iPisa, there is no need to shy away from the reality of Mean-Time-Between-Hacked (MTBH). Instead, users can choose to revert to their originally infection-free virtual machines like Windows XP almost instantly by issuing just a few keystrokes whenever the need arises. This deceptively simple technique effectively creates an endless supply of clean disposable virtual PCs for the users.</p><p>Additionally, iPisa frees the users from using the same decaying PC environment for both casual Internet browsing and sensitive on-line financial transactions. Instead, users can set up and use separate isolated virus-free virtual machines for those differing tasks.</p><p>The included pluggable iptables firewalls reduce the chances of an iPisa-enabled computer from spreading a worm to or acquiring one from the immediately connected local area network (LAN).</p><p>iPisa also helps keep computers safe by removing the need for the physical network adapters to run the Internet Protocol. The NICs won't even have IP addresses!</p><p>An Internet connected personal computer even with the protection of antivirus tools is at best like a used reusable syringe. On the other hand, a virtual machine such as Windows XP in the iPisa environment resembles an unopened disposable syringe - better still, the incremental cost to create, use and dispose of a virtual machine is close to nothing.</p><p>The thought of having to use a used reusable syringe with an unknown history is frightening indeed. Yet, this is more or less what happens when you conduct Internet banking from a PC littered with thousands of previous web site visits / downloads, unsolicited emails, dubious plug-ins, spywares, adwares and possibly key-loggers.</p><p>Most advanced Internet users are aware of such shortcomings but so far could only reluctantly accept the reality of a false sense of security. One of the design goals of iPisa is to provide the tools for the end users to confidently mitigate such risks so that they can conduct their online transactions in a safer environment.</p><p>Typically, an iPisa user will have vey little concern about how polluted the Internet is currently right now, as disposable clones are deployed for net surfing. Online transactions can be initiated from virgin clones protected behind isolated iptables firewalls. And, to minimize the already remote possibilities of banking details being hacked, users just need to dispose of the clones immediately at the completion of the transactions.</p><p>As the architect of a pioneering product, VMLAB welcomes healthy skepticisms. A fully functional trial version is available for download and in-depth evaluations.</p><p>iPisa is currently powered by VMware technologies. A version based on Microsoft virtual machine technologies is in the pipeline.</p><p>For a brief product description and usage scenarios, see -http://www.vmlab.com.au/download.php?id=101.</p><p>For a free trial, download the iPisa package fromhttp://www.vmlab.com.au/download.php?id=201.</p><p>About Virtual Machine Laboratories</p><p>Virtual Machine Laboratories (VMLAB), a subsidiary of Audisoft Pty Limited, is Australia's pioneering virtual machine solutions provider. Clients use VMLAB solutions to realize business benefits made possible by the deployment of virtual machine technologies from leading vendors such as VMware and Microsoft. The company is based in Sydney, Australia.</p><p>For further information, please visit www.vmlab.com.au.</p><p>Media Contact: Timothy Au, Director of Technology, VMLAB +61-2-9570-8789</p><p>All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.</p>

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